Man pleads guilty to sending 'abhorrent messages' to England women's footballer Carter

Nigel Dewale with an address at Prospect Street, Great Harwood, northwest England, entered a guilty plea to one charge of malicious communications and possession of a weapon in a private place at Blackburn Magistrates' Court on Friday.

His admission came after the UK Football Policing Unit launched an investigation last July into abuse directed at Carter.

Dewale is due to be sentenced on March 25.

Mark Roberts, the football policing lead for the National Police Chiefs' Council, said: "Everyone is responsible for what they do and say, and posting a message on social media is no different.

"In this case, Dewale sent hateful and malicious messages, thinking that he would be able to hide behind his account name.

"His comments were totally abhorrent, they caused emotional distress for Miss Carter and her family and I welcome the guilty plea entered today."

A spokesperson for England's governing Football Association responded to Dewale's guilty plea by saying "unacceptable behaviour will not be tolerated, whether in person or online".

The spokesperson added: "Our priority remains supporting Jess and all of our England players who continue to be impacted by disgusting online abuse."

Writing on her social media accounts at the time the abuse came to light, Carter -- who went on to help England win a second successive Euros title -- said: "From the start of the tournament I have experienced a lot of racial abuse.

"Whilst I feel every fan is entitled to their opinion on performance and result I don't agree or think it's OK to target someone's appearance or race."

England forward Lauren James suffered online racist abuse after a defeat for her club side Chelsea in 2023.

England men's players Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho were targeted after they all failed to score penalties in a shoot-out loss to Italy in the Euro 2020 final at London's Wembley Stadium.